T At a shelter run by the NGO Wildlife SOS in Garhi Harsaru, a hamlet on the outskirts of Gurugram, an Egyptian vulture awaits remedy for a fractured wing and pneumonia. A solemn-looking chook to start with, which works by the formal title of Neophron percnopterus ginginianus (the final derived from Gingee, a city in Tamil Nadu), the forlorn, yellow-billed creature within the cage is weighed by a burden even heavier—for, on his restoration relies upon the survival of the remainder of its vulture brethren. The White-rumped vulture, Indian vulture and the Purple-headed vulture have suffered long-term declines of 98 per cent, 95 per cent and 91 per cent, respectively. The offender has been lengthy identified—the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, used generally to deal with livestock for a spread of illnesses. The results, nevertheless, show deadly for the birds, who succumb to renal failure a day or two after feeding on cattle carcasses.
